Left For Dead
by Armbar Nation
Summary: Daniel Bryan and Brie Bella make a grim discovery in an arena parking lot. Who is responsible for it and why?
1. Chapter 1

"Not a chance, it's your turn to drive Daniel," Brie Bella laughed as she looked at the pretend disappointment on her husband's face.

"But I want to have a drink! I'll drive next time." Daniel Bryan moaned, carrying on with the play acting.

Brie laughed again as she pushed her way through a set of double doors and exited the building. The cold air hit her and took her by surprise as she said, "You said that last time."

Daniel followed her outside, pulling his case behind him. The cold also assaulted him and he zipped up his coat against it. It was easy to forget how cold it was outside when you were in an air conditioned arena all night. "Why don't we just stay in the hotel? We can both have a drink and then we can crawl into one of those big comfy beds and..."

Brie cut him off, "I'm not staying in a hotel when we are less than an hour from home. I'll make you a deal: We'll both go eat an expensive dinner, I'll have a few drinks, you drive us home and then we can crawl into our own big comfy bed and do whatever it was you were about to say?"

Daniel decided that he didn't want to argue with that proposal. "I'll hold you to that."

They had made it most of the way across the parking lot towards where their car was parked. This was what happened when you were one of the last people to show up for Raw, you could only get a spot far away from the entrance. Daniel pushed the button on his keys to unlock the car and he saw the lights flash once in response. He saw that the windshield had iced over, it really was incredibly cold tonight. He walked to the back of the car and opened the trunk. He tossed his case into it and then did the same with the one that his wife had just wheeled next to him. As he slammed the trunk shut he looked at the mist that was descending over the parking lot and making the few lights that were working give off a strange kind of glow. "It's going to snow tonight Brie, are you sure about that hotel room?"

Brie giggled, "You're going to tell me that you can't drive in snow now?" She opened the passenger door.

Daniel walked around to the driver's door and noticed that Brie hadn't got into the car. "Brie?"

Brie narrowed her eyes and she looked across the parking lot. "Daniel... what's that?"

Daniel looked in the direction that she was staring. "That's a car Brie. There's one here if you'd like to get into it."

Brie took a couple of steps forward and was still staring in the same direction. "Daniel, come here." Noting her tone and realising she was serious Daniel walked around the car and looked in the direction that she was staring. "What is that?" She asked.

Daniel couldn't make it out either through the mist that was settling even more rapidly over the parking lot. There was something crumpled up in the gutter in the back corner of the parking lot. Daniel dismissed it, "It's just a bunch of trash."

Brie began to walk hesitantly in the direction of it. "I'm not sure."

"Come on," Daniel moaned. "It's freezing let's just get out of here."

Brie had gotten closer to whatever was lying on the ground and her voice now contained more urgency. "Daniel, come here!"

"For fuck's sake," Daniel mumbled as he wandered towards his wife. Only then did he look at her and he saw that her eyes were wide. "Tell me that's not a person," she breathed.

Daniel stared at the object again. "No of course it's..." Wait, maybe it was a person. It looked like it might be the right size. Worried now, Daniel jogged over towards the object and as he got closer he was able to make out a bare leg. It was a person! There was a person lying in the gutter. He could tell by the slender shape of the leg that it was a woman. As he got even closer her saw long brown dark hair draped over the floor in a mess and some of it was matted together. Finally approaching the woman he realised that he recognised the black dress that was now torn away from her legs. He'd seen that dress earlier, he knew who the woman was! "Stephanie!" He yelled as he ran towards her.

Daniel hadn't realised that his wife was running after him until he heard her scream, "Oh my God!" Daniel bent down over Stephanie and he realised that what was matting her hair together was blood. It was everywhere, all over her forehead and down one side of her face. "Is she dead?" Brie asked frantically.

He checked Stephanie's wrist for a pulse and for a second he thought that she was dead as she was cold to the touch and he didn't find a pulse. He checked a second time and managed to find a very faint pulse. He put the back of his hand just under her nose felt the faintest of breaths against it. "Get an ambulance Brie, now! She's alive but I don't know how long for. There's hardly a pulse and look at all this blood."

Daniel felt himself shaking as he looked at Stephanie. He had never seen anything even close to this in his life before. Only then did he take in the torn dress that had been ripped away from her legs. He saw that her underwear was missing and there were marks on the insides of her legs. "Oh my god," he groaned in disgust as he averted his eyes.

Behind him he heard his wife on her phone telling them to get an ambulance there now. Daniel feared that they would be too late. He hadn't touched Stephanie or tried to move her in any way but he could tell that whoever had done this had cracked her skull with something and left her for dead, as well as the obvious. He took his coat off and covered her lower body up, it shouldn't be exposed to the world like that.

Daniel was no medic and he didn't have any real knowledge of first aid but he did know that Stephanie had lost way too much blood and she was way too cold. He wasn't sure if he should move her, so he decided not to.

Brie was done on the phone and she handed her coat to Daniel. "Cover her up, try to keep her warm."

Daniel covered Stephanie with the coat and said, "Go fetch Paul and Vince."

Brie ran away towards the arena entrance and Daniel was unsure what to do next. Where was the fucking ambulance? He knew there was not going to be a response but he had seen people talk to unconscious people on the TV so he assumed they did it for a reason. "Help is on its way Steph, just hang on, please!"


	2. Chapter 2

"Where the fuck are you?" Daniel Bryan yelled at the paramedics in the ambulance who obviously could not hear him as they were not there. He realised that he had not checked on Stephanie's injuries, not that he would have the first idea what he was looking at when he did. Gently he tried to part her hair and see where all of the blood was coming from. Her hair was sticky and matted together and he thought maybe he would actually do more damage by pulling at it so he just knelt there next to her and told her, "Not long now Steph."

* * *

Brie Bella ran and crashed through the double doors back into the arena building and sprinted along the hallway, her pounding footsteps echoing in the empty space. Where the hell was everyone? How could this place be fucking deserted? Eventually she saw someone, some random crew member, she had no idea who he was but she ran up to him. "Vince's office... Where is it?" She managed to asked between laboured breaths.

"You tell me?" He shrugged unhelpfully.

"Damn it!" She ran off searching for someone else to ask. Seeing nobody around she yelled, "Help me somebody!"

Eventually she reached the locker rooms. She had not realised that Daniel and herself had been nearly the last to leave as they had been so busy with their conversation and laughter. She also had not taken any notice of the fact that the parking lot had been nearly empty. Who pays attention to things like that when they are talking about getting drunk and having sex with their husband?

Without considering it she crashed into the men's locker room. She saw that Kane, John Cena, Seth Rollins and Dolph Ziggler were in there standing around talking. Clearly they had no reason to hurry back to their hotel rooms. "Does Daniel know you're doing this?" Seth asked jokingly. "I mean, four of us at once?"

Ignoring his stupidity Brie pleaded, "Take me to Vince, please!"

"Brie?" John asked, narrowing his eyes in concern. "What's going on?"

Rollins obviously felt guilty about his previous joke as he took in her frantic demeanour. "Are you okay? I didn't mean..."

Brie was getting nowhere with these questions so she screamed as loudly as she could, "Vince's office!"

John quickly led her out of the locker room and Dolph turned to Kane. "What was that about?"

"Ask me another." Kane shrugged.

John jogged along the hallway with Brie running behind him. He did not know what had happened but he sure could sense that this was not a time to fuck around with questions. The shock on Brie's face made that perfectly clear. Eventually he pointed at a door. "There."

Brie crashed straight through the door with hesitating. "What the hell?" Vince demanded loudly.

"You've got to come..." Brie gasped. Then as the image of Stephanie came back to her and she thought about what some sick bastard had done to her. She could not help it, she was violently sick all over the floor. She wretched four times and her sick covered a large area of the carpet.

"I'm going to have to pay to get that cleaned!" Vince raged.

Brie wiped the remains of the sick from her mouth and nose on her sleeve and gasped, "Just come! Where's Paul?"

"Come where Brie? What's going on?" Vince demanded, already forgetting about the potentially ruined carpet.

"Where's Paul?" Brie asked.

"He's looking for Stephanie. Tell me what's going on Brie." He was standing in front of her now having carefully stepped over the mess on the floor.

Words failed Brie as she realised that she couldn't tell Vince what had happened to his daughter, so she turned and ran. Vince hurried after her, demanding, "Where are you going?" Getting no reply Vince continued to run after her, apparently he would have to find out for himself what the hell this was all about. He struggled to keep up with her as she sprinted along the hallway, at least until she rounded a corner and ran straight into Paul Levesque, Stephanie's husband. The impact of their collision staggered him and knocked Brie clean off her feet.

Before Paul could help her up he saw Vince come around the corner also. "I can't find her Vince," he told the older man.

Brie managed to point, her hand shaking. "The parking lot."

Paul and Vince looked at each other for half a second and then both turned and ran towards the exit as Brie sat on the cold concrete floor trying to get her breath.

* * *

Finally Daniel heard the sound of a siren in the distance. It seemed like it had been an hour since Brie had made the call but in fact it had been just over five minutes. He checked Stephanie's pulse again and found that it was possibly even weaker than before. As the siren slowly got louder he yelled, "Come on for fuck's sake!"

After another thirty seconds he heard the siren begin to echo off the building behind him and out of the mist the ambulance finally appeared. It turned into the opposite end of the parking lot and Daniel jumped up and waved frantically. "Hey! Over here!" He yelled as loudly as he could.

The ambulance screeched to a stop a few yards away and the siren was turned off but the lights carried on flashing, illuminating the scene around the ambulance much better than the almost useless lights of the parking lot had been. Two male paramedics jumped out and raced in his direction. One asked, "You know the victim?"

The victim? She has a name you asshole, Daniel thought. "Her name is Stephanie."

The other paramedic was already leaning over Stephanie. "We've got head injuries," he told his partner. "Major blood loss. Stephanie can you hear me?" He was checking her pulse and apparently struggling to find it.

The other paramedic had fetched a stretcher from the back of the ambulance and was lowering it to make it easier for them to put Stephanie onto it. "You know her blood type?" He asked Daniel.

How the fuck would he know that? "No."

"We need o-neg then. Let's hope we have enough." This had been directed at his fellow paramedic.

"We've got to move her or we lose her," the other paramedic replied. "I barely have a pulse."

Daniel was surprised at how they picked Stephanie up and put her on the stretcher. He had expected them to be very gentle with her but no, this was pure urgency. One paramedic was checking for a pulse again. "No pulse! Start CPR."

Daniel was shocked as the other paramedic jumped on top of Stephanie, straddling her stomach, and began pumping her chest with his hands. The other paramedic placed an oxygen mask over Stephanie's face and turned to Daniel, "I need you to squeeze this for me. Just how I'm doing it."

Daniel watched the rhythm that he was required to copy and began squeezing the bag attached to oxygen mask as he'd been told. The paramedic who had shown him how to do it had ran around to the end of the stretcher and began pushing it. Daniel walked alongside the stretcher almost in autopilot as it was pushed towards the back of the ambulance. He climbed in as the stretcher was slid inside and tried to concentrate on doing his job instead of the fact that he was standing next to Stephanie McMahon who was essentially dead.

He was shoved aside by one of the paramedics. "Step back sir, I've got this now." As this happened the other paramedic climbed off of Stephanie.

Next Daniel heard a high pitched whining sound and then. "Charging... clear!" Things were happening so quickly that it all seemed to be a bit of a blur. Was he going into shock himself? He watched as the paramedic who had been doing Stephanie's breathing for her raised both his hands away from her and the other used chest paddles to shock Stephanie, attempting to restart her heart.

"Come on Steph!" Daniel pleaded.

* * *

Paul sprinted outside into the parking lot, leaving Vince trailing far behind. It had taken Brie so long to find them and get her message across that the ambulance was already there. Paul could not actually see it as he exited the building but he could see the flashing lights dancing over the cars and reflecting from the surface of the parking lot. He ran in the direction the lights were coming from, trying to image how his wife had gotten herself run down in the parking lot. He assumed that was what had happened, what else could it be? Had Brie Bella backed her car over his wife?"

As Paul got to the point where he could see into the ambulance his legs nearly collapsed from under him. The paramedics were shocking whoever was on the stretcher. That meant they were trying to restart their heart. He found himself praying that it wasn't Stephanie although he already knew that it was. He ran over to the ambulance just as Daniel Bryan stepped out of the back of it, looking dazed. "What the fuck did you do?" Paul screamed at him.

Daniel held his hands up defensively. "We found her. Someone's attacked her."

Paul's mouth dropped open, "Attacked?"

He looked into the ambulance and heard, "I've got a rhythm but it's weak. We need to move."

The other paramedic jumped out to run around to the driver's seat. "You family?" He asked.

"She's my wife."

"Get in." The paramedic ordered. Paul did so and the door slammed behind him. A few seconds later he heard the siren turn on and the ambulance tore away so fast that Paul was afraid that the guy who was driving would crash it.

* * *

As the ambulance screamed away Vince finally arrived on the scene, panting as he was out of breath. Daniel was still standing where Paul had left him. "She's alive Vince, they got her back."

"Got her back? What the fuck did you do?" The older man yelled.

The same question as Paul had asked earlier got the same response. "We found her. Someone's attacked her."

Vince turned and yelled, "Get my car!"

Brie came jogging over, having regained her breath. "Ride with us Vince. Daniel, let's go." They all raced over to Daniel's car which was still standing with the front passenger's door open as Brie had left it. With a screech from the tires Daniel headed off in the same direction that the ambulance had gone in a minute or so earlier.


	3. Chapter 3

As Daniel's car disappeared into the distance a police car pulled into the parking lot. The huge black officer who was driving stopped the car and looked at his young blonde female partner. "This is the right place?" He asked doubtfully, seeing no sign of anyone, let alone an ambulance.

"Yeah, but I don't see anyone," his partner replied, looking around the empty lot herself.

"Get on the radio and check," he ordered.

The rookie did as she was told and got confirmation that this was indeed the reported location of a serious assault on a woman. "We'll have to look around," her partner decided when she relayed the confirmation to him.

As they climbed out of the car and slammed their doors closed she said, "It makes me sick that people do things like this."

As her partner led the way across the parking lot, scanning around with his torch he snorted. "Look on the bright side, if the paramedics moved her this fast she's alive. No rush when they're dead."

The young woman hoped that she wouldn't get to the point in her career where she referred to things like this in such an offhanded manner. As they approached the far end of the parking lot, having seen nothing out of the ordinary she shook her head. "Look at this place. They can't even take the time to replace the bulbs in half of these lights and they wonder why things like this happen?"

"Things cost money."

She looked around again, now searching for something different, "Do they even have cameras out here?"

"Wouldn't see anything through this shit anyway," he said referring to the mist that hung all around them. Then he added, "There you go... blood. She was over here."

She followed him to the large stain he had seen on the ground. "He left her in the gutter," she breathed in disgust.

"He? You know this was a man do you?"

She stuttered, "Well... I mean... no, I guess."

"Don't assume things, work with what you know. Look around for anything else, we've got nothing to go on here."

He walked off to the right so she headed left, unsure of what she was supposed to look for. She realised that there wasn't much to search, there was nothing in the gutter and there was only one car nearby. She looked around it and saw nothing. Fearing getting into trouble if she missed something she got down on the ground and looked underneath the car too, "Hey! I've got a phone here!"

She pulled a rubber glove from her pocket and snapped it onto her hand. Her partner walked over and instructed, "Bag it."

"I'm doing it now... got it." She stood up with the phone in her hand and dropped it into the open evidence bag her partner was holding. "Do you think it's hers?" She asked.

"Stupid place for anyone else to leave a phone," her partner replied sarcastically.

* * *

As Paul had entered the ambulance the paramedic had pulled a blanket up to Stephanie's waist. He had no intention of fielding questions from the husband on that subject. Someone else could deal with that later. His job was to get her to the hospital alive and that was going to be difficult enough by itself considering how much blood she had lost.

As the ambulance tore through the city Paul looked at his wife in horror. There was blood everywhere. Who had done this to her, he wondered hopelessly, _what_ had they done? Any why for God's sake? Who would possibly want to hurt Stephanie? Sure, she played a bitch on TV but in reality she was one of the nicest people you could ever hope to meet. He didn't know what the paramedic was doing but he saw that he had started blood going into her now. That was a good thing at least. He managed to clear the lump in his throat and ask, "What happened to her?"

"Your wife has head injuries sir and she's lost a lot of blood. Keep back please."

Paul sat down and kept out of the way. "Can she hear me if I talk to her?"

"No sir."

Paul felt helpless as he stared at her. His head was spinning, this was all surreal. And how fucking long was it going to take to get to the damn hospital?

A minute later he noticed the paramedic stop what he was doing and look at one of the machines that was now attached to Stephanie. Paul looked at it too and saw it was the heart monitor, whatever they called those things. He couldn't remember the name of the thing and he didn't know what the numbers on it meant but he knew what it meant when the line across the middle stopped going up and down and instead went flat across the screen as the machine started to loudly bleep a warning. Paul jumped up and screamed, "Fucking do something!"

"Get back! I need to shock her again."

Everything seemed to be going in slow motion to Paul as he watched the man attempting to save his wife's life. He shocked her but it didn't work. Again he tried and it didn't work. Paul felt tears running down his face as he cried out, "Steph please don't do this! Come on!" His wife was dying right then and there in front of him. The third shock attempt also got no response and Paul thought that this was it, Stephanie was dead. He found himself wondering how he would tell the kids? How would he go on with his life without her? He saw the paramedic preparing to shock her again and pleaded, "Please Steph, come on!" As he watched her body convulse from the electric shock he realised that he couldn't remember the last thing that he had said to her. Would that haunt him forever?

At that moment Paul noticed that the heart monitor had stopped bleeping and he heard the paramedic say, "She's back." Paul sank back down as a sense of relief like nothing he had ever experience before washed over him, and he began to cry, which was a very unfamiliar thing for him. He heard the paramedic yell to his partner, "We need to be there yesterday!"

"We're nearly there," was the response from the front of the ambulance.

A few moments later Paul felt the ambulance tilt as it took a corner a lot faster than it should have done and then it screeched to a halt. The rear doors flew open and his wife disappeared into a swarm of people all dressed in the same hideous looking yellow gowns. Were all of these people doctors, he wondered.

The paramedic was telling the doctors, or nurses, whatever they were, a bunch of things that Paul didn't understand and couldn't keep up with and he realised that he was getting left behind as they raced into the building with Stephanie. He jumped out of the ambulance and ran after them yelling, "Hey! Wait!"

One of the doctors or nurses turned around and blocked his path in front of a set of double doors as he tried to follow where they were taking Stephanie. "You can't go through there sir."

"That's my wife," Paul protested. "Where are you taking her?"

The doctor's blue eyes were full of compassion. "They're taking her straight to the operating room sir. Doctor Turner is very good, she'll do her best for your wife."

Do her best? Paul thought, Aren't they supposed to say something like 'don't worry your wife will be fine?' "Where do I go?" He asked.

"First floor sir, you can wait there. I'm Doctor Clarke, I'll come and give you an update when I can." With that the woman disappeared and the door she had gone through banged shut in Paul's face.

He turned around feeling dazed. Now what? He thought. Go to the first floor and wait I guess. How do I even get there?

He tried to clear his head and focus. Looking around he saw a staircase leading upwards. As he walked over there and climbed the stairs he noticed that terrible hospital smell that everyone hates and he thought he was going to be sick. The image of his wife lying in the ambulance with her eyes closed, covered in her own blood wouldn't leave him. She had looked so pale and fragile, broken even, not like Stephanie at all. He didn't want to have that as his final memory of her.

No one took any notice of him as he arrived on the first floor and found an empty seat in the large waiting area. He looked over at a family on the other side of the room. They were too far away for him to hear the conversation but he could tell that the doctor who was standing in front of them was giving them news on their family member, or maybe a friend? He saw the woman who the doctor was talking to burst into tears and then hug the doctor in obvious relief. Maybe the news related to her husband? "Please let that be me," he mumbled to himself.

* * *

Stephanie's attacker was angry.

_What a fucking mess I made of that. I planned it all out to give myself the perfect opportunity to kill the bitch and I fucked it up. Or did I? The second time I hit her I did it damn hard, maybe it will still kill her?_

_The plan was so simple! All I had to do was knock her out, rip her dress open, make sure I marked her legs, steal her underwear and then strangle the bitch. At least I managed most of it. Making it look like a sexual assault was a stroke of genius. I'll be the last person they suspect now, unless she lives of course._

_That's why it went wrong, I panicked. How the fuck did she open her eyes after how hard I hit her the first time? What is that woman, a fucking Terminator?_

_I should have just strangled her anyway but no I panicked and hit her again and ran away. At least I only got blood on my coat and I managed to hide that and the weapon away. I'll soon dispose of them, no problem._

_I know she saw me though, so if she lives I'm fucked. _

_My god I hate that fucking __bitch._


	4. Chapter 4

Paul sat and stared but he wasn't looking at anything. Every minute that dragged by felt like a year. Not knowing how long would he have to wait for news was killing him. Suddenly he focussed on someone who was approaching him. It was Vince, his face looked deeply shocked, probably much like his own. "Where is she Paul? What's happening?"

Paul tried to respond but the words wouldn't come out of his mouth. "Paul! What happened?" Vince demanded.

"She's alive," Paul managed to mumble. "At least she was when we got here."

"Daniel told me that they had to shock her heart. My god, my baby girl." Vince flopped down in the seat next to Paul and Paul saw that he had started to cry. He could not remember seeing his father in law cry before. As Vince had flopped down Paul saw that Daniel Bryan and Brie Bella had been standing behind him.

"We nearly lost her in the ambulance," Paul mumbled. "They had to shock her four times. I thought she was dead Vince." He felt tears running down his own face now.

"We'll get out of here guys," Daniel said quietly. "I'm sure they'll take good care of her now."

"Daniel, what happened?" Paul asked.

Daniel just wanted to get out of there, he hated hospitals and he hated to see Paul and Vince struggling like this. There was nothing he or Brie could do to help now. As he hesitated he saw his wife sit down next to Paul. "We don't know what happened Paul, we found her," she told him gently.

Paul looked at her despairingly. "Who would do this to her? And why for God's sake? Why would someone try and beat her to death?"

Brie glanced at Daniel, they both realised that Paul didn't know what else had been done to his wife but they had both seen the marks on her legs and the missing underwear. Brie began to shake again but she was not going to be the one to tell him, she just couldn't do it. Instead she said, "Guys, I thought about something in the car on the way here. I don't know if you've considered it but..." her voice trailed off.

"Go on, what is it?" Paul prompted her.

Brie gulped, "Well... I thought... Why was Steph out there? In the parking lot I mean? Why would she be there?"

Paul realised that Brie was right, it was strange that Stephanie had been out in the parking lot and he hadn't considered it before now. Brie continued her thought, "I can't help thinking... It must be someone that she knows, that we know I mean."

Paul felt shock hit him yet again as he realised that she may be right. "You're saying that she went out there to meet whoever this was?"

"I don't know," Brie shrugged. "I'm just saying that we should consider it."

Daniel felt dazed as he heard this discussion. Someone we know did this? He thought, Who the hell do I work with that could do this to Stephanie? He felt like he was going to be sick. "Brie, we should go. Do you guys need us to call anyone for you?"

Paul stood up. "No, I'll do it. Thank you Daniel, I'm sorry about how I yelled at you. If it wasn't for you..."

"Thank Brie not me, it was Brie who saw her and insisted that I had to go over and investigate. I was about to leave."

As he was saying this Brie had also got to her feet. Paul surprised her by hugging her. "Thank you Brie. If you hadn't been there she would be..."

"Don't say it. She's not going to die."

Paul released Brie and Daniel said, "If we can do anything just call."

"Thank you," Paul nodded and then the two men hugged briefly.

Neither Brie or Daniel knew what to say as they left so they just walked slowly away. Daniel had noticed that Vince hadn't said anything and he was sitting with his head in his hands. He hoped the old man would be okay, many people didn't like him but he'd always been good to Daniel and his wife. Either way no one deserved this to happen to their daughter.

Paul sat down and tried to think about what needed to be done. It was obvious that Vince wasn't going to be able to call anyone, he was a wreck. Paul put an arm around him, "We need to call Linda and Shane, Vince. What do we do about the girls? Do we have them fly down here too?" As he asked the question he already knew the answer. He imagined his three daughter's faces as he told them mommy was dead and he knew that he couldn't do it. The girls would have to stay home until he knew for sure what Stephanie's condition was.

Vince hadn't answered Paul's question anyway, he just sat there crying. "I'm going to go outside and call them Vince, will you be okay?"

"Yeah," Vince managed to grunt.

Paul headed down the stairs and across the ER reception area and out of the huge entrance doors. He thought about his wife being hastily wheeled in here surrounded by the crowd of doctors. How long ago had it been? He had no idea. As he walked outside he noticed that it was snowing but strangely it didn't feel as cold as it had earlier in the parking lot. He saw his own breath as he looked around. It was very peaceful out here, there was nobody around. He noticed a tree decorated in coloured lights. Oh God, he thought, it's only a couple of weeks until Christmas. How will we get through that without Steph? He felt tears stinging his eyes again but he managed to suck it up for now. He had to make these calls.

* * *

Back at the arena after they had collected the phone and completed another search of the area around where the assault had taken place, discovering nothing, the two police officers had headed into the building to try to find someone who knew what had gone on. It was strange that there was nobody out there in the parking lot when they had arrived and even more strange that no one had walked out of the building whilst they had been out there searching. They had only just walked into the building and started to proceed along the hallway when they saw a group of four men approaching them.

Seeing the huge black male police officer approaching with his attractive young partner next to him Seth Rollins looked at to Dolph Ziggler, "I don't like the look of yours much."

Dolph laughed, "She's not your type bro, she's hot."

"Something funny gentlemen?" The male officer asked. The wrestlers all stopped in front of the two cops but no one said anything. "I'm officer Henry, this is officer Williams..."

Thinking of the striking similarity between this guy and wrestler Mark Henry, Seth Rollins chirped, "You got a brother?" Dolph laughed again and Kane turned away trying to hide his grin.

Officer Henry clearly wasn't amused. "Comedian huh? Name?" Seth sheepishly told him his name and was then asked, "Do you want to tell me anything about what happened in the parking lot?"

Unwisely Seth made another wisecrack. "I would officer but I can't see from in here. X-Ray vision is something I admit to not having."

"I think that mouth of yours could use a night in the station."

Officer Williams intervened and pulled her partner aside and reproached him quietly, her irritation obvious, "Shut up Chris, we're here for information not to see who has the biggest dick." Officer Henry was angry at the way she spoke to him but decided that if she wanted to ask the questions so badly she could, if she made a mess of it then it wasn't his problem. Who did she think she was? They give him this rookie to work with and only two weeks in she talks to him like that? She wouldn't make it far in this job.

Officer Williams turned back to the four wrestlers who were patiently waiting to be asked another question, "Gentlemen we got a report of a woman being seriously assaulted in the parking lot. We got here after the paramedics had already taken the victim away, does anyone know anything about who it was or what happened?"

Everyone shook their heads and said that they knew nothing. John Cena added, "We've been in the locker room for a while, kind of lost track of time."

For the first time Kane spoke, "What about when Brie ran in?"

"Brie?" Officer Williams asked. "What's her surname please?"

"Brie Bella."

"You think that she may be the victim?"

Kane shook his head, "No, she ran into the locker room looking for... Guys you don't think it could be..."

"Fuck off man," Ziggler insisted. "No way."

"Sir tell me in more detail what happened and what you are thinking."

Instead John Cena spoke, "Brie came in looking for Vince McMahon. She seemed panicked... Vince has a daughter but it can't be..."

"The daughter's name?"

"Stephanie, but it can't be her."

"Why is that sir?"

John realised that there actually wasn't a reason why it couldn't be Stephanie. "Who would hurt Stephanie?" Was all he could say.

"No one comes to mind? Someone she doesn't get along with? Does she have a husband?"

John raised a hand, "Wait a minute now, Paul would never hurt Stephanie."

"Paul is the husband?"

"Yes ma'am but I'm telling you he wouldn't do anything to hurt her, this must be someone else," John insisted.

Officer Williams was making notes of all of this, "When was the last time any of you saw Stephanie... What is her surname?"

"Levesque," John replied. "But she uses McMahon. I've not seen her for some time. Guys?"

No one else had either and they shook their heads. Ziggler said, "I just don't see this being Steph."

"Is there likely to be anyone else in the building who can help us sir?"

John shook his head, "I doubt it, I'd bet we're the last ones out."

"Thank you gentlemen, give me all of your names." They did so and were told that the officers would be in touch if they needed anything else. The wrestlers all left in shock at the news that someone may have assaulted Stephanie.

The two police officers set off for the hospital, it was time to talk to the husband. Officer Williams had already decided that she would be the one to handle that too, her partner clearly had no idea how to speak to people properly and she was supposed to be learning from the guy? If anything it should be the other way around. She couldn't have him upsetting the husband with insensitive questions.

Meanwhile Officer Henry was irritated, his rookie partner actually hadn't done that bad a of a job with her questions. He would let her keep taking the lead and she would make a mistake soon. Then they would see who the smart ass was.

* * *

Stephanie's attacker raged silently.

_You think you can ruin my life, bitch? Let's see you do it now. I doubt you'll be capable now, even if you do live. You'll probably be a vegetable or something._

_Maybe she didn't even see me, maybe I panicked for no reason? Sure, her eyes open but I'd already hit her on the back of the head real hard so maybe she couldn't see properly? __Hell, I__ cracked her head that badly the second time that maybe even if she does live she won't remember what she saw or that it was me? I should read up about head injuries._

_If she does live and if I don't immediately get arrested I need to kill her as soon as possible in case she somehow does remember in the future. I can't take that chance. I need to be careful though, there will be no point if I get caught. I can't lose everything, especially not my kids._


	5. Chapter 5

"It's late Paul, is everything okay?" Shane McMahon asked as he answered his phone to his brother in law.

Paul tried to stop his voice from breaking as he replied, "No Shane, something awful has happened."

"It's not my dad is it?" Shane asked, already panicked by the tone of Paul's voice. "Tell me my dad is okay?"

Paul had known this would be difficult but he hadn't realised it would be this bad. He could hardly talk as he had a lump in his throat. He didn't know that he was in a state of shock and was actually doing very well. "It's not your dad."

"So what is it? Tell me for Christ's sake!"

Paul managed to blurt out, "It's Steph, someone attacked her."

"What?" Shane yelled. "Attacked her? You mean like a fan or something? Is she okay?"

Paul found himself fighting back tears again. "I don't know who it was. They found her in the parking lot."

"What do you mean found her?" Shane screamed hysterically. "Are you telling me that my sister is dead?"

"No... I don't know."

Somehow managing to yell even louder Shane demanded, "What do you mean you don't fucking know? Is Steph alive or not?"

Paul realised that he was making a complete mess of this and tried to get across what he knew. "Shane listen to me. Someone attacked Steph and she has a bad head injury. Whoever did it left her for dead in the parking lot but Brie and Daniel found her. Her heart stopped twice before we got here but they revived her. I don't know what's happening now, she's in surgery but we haven't been told anything."

Paul could hear Shane crying now. "No. Oh god. Why Steph?"

"I don't know Shane, I have no idea who did this but I'll fucking find out and I'll kill them myself." For the first time Paul felt anger towards whoever the attacker was. He had been too shocked and focused on what Stephanie's condition was until now, but now that he had thought about it he wanted to get hold of whoever this was and show them what it was like to be beaten to death. He'd do it with his bare hands and make them suffer too.

"You're at the hospital now?" Shane asked, trying to regain control of himself.

"Yes, I'll call you as soon as I hear anything. I need to call Linda."

"No I'll do it," Shane offered. "What about the girls?"

"I don't want them down here until we know if Steph's okay."

"Okay, call me when you have news."

"I will," Paul promised. He put his phone in his pocket and brushed away the snow that had been settling on his jacket as he stood there. He trudged through the slush on the pavement on his way back to the entrance. As he approached he waited for two police officers to enter in front of him and walked in behind them.

Following them inside he heard the young female officer ask her partner, "So how do we find the husband?"

"We get them to make an announcement and have him to come to the desk. What was the surname again?"

"McMahon. No, sorry, Levesque."

"Uh... You're looking for me," Paul said from behind them.

* * *

After returning to the waiting area Paul had introduced Vince to the police officers. He was starting to really get concerned for his father in law, he was still sitting with his head in his hands. Paul was no psychologist but if he had to guess what a breakdown looked like it would be something like this. He was surprised to see that apparently the young female officer was going to be the one to ask the questions. He wondered, how old is this kid? That's what she looks like, a kid. I don't want some kid working on this! He told himself to listen to her instead of judging her.

"Sir, can you tell me everything you know about what happened to your wife?"

"Probably less than you," Paul sighed. "Someone attacked her and tried to kill her. She has bad head injuries and they are operating on her now."

"You've had no update on her condition?"

"No, nothing," Paul shook his head sadly.

"Were you the one who found your wife in the parking lot?"

Paul shook his head again, "No, it was Daniel and Brie."

Remembering the name Brie from earlier officer Williams turned back a page in her notebook. "Brie Bella, correct?"

"Yeah, and her husband Daniel Bryan."

She noted the name and asked, "Do you have any idea who could have done this?"

Paul was starting to get angry although he was trying not to, "No, I don't know who would want to murder my wife or why they would want to do it!" Sadly he added, "She's such a kind hearted person, it makes no sense."

"We're going to check over the CCTV from the arena and see if that picked up anything, also we found your wife's phone. I mean we think it's your wife's phone."

"Give it to me," Paul demanded. "I want to know if anyone called her!"

"We can't do that sir, we have to check it for prints. Whoever attacked your wife may have touched it. We'll also check the calls and messages, if we don't find anything it will be returned to you." Paul felt a little reassurance that this kid at least seemed to know what she was doing as she continued, "We'll need to talk again sir."

Paul nodded, "Whatever you need, just catch this bastard."

Officer Williams looked over at the wreck of an old man sitting with his head in his hands and crying. "Is there anything you can add Mr. McMahon?" She asked gently. Vince shook his head but didn't say anything. As she was about to leave she said to Paul, "I'll pray for your wife."

The two officers walked away and officer Henry scoffed, "I'll pray for your wife? What was that?"

"The truth."

He snorted, "I like the husband for this. It's always the husband."

* * *

More and more time dragged by and it was torture for Paul. Was no news good or bad? The doctor who had spoken to him had told him that she was going to come back with an update so where the hell was she? It had been hours now since they had taken Stephanie into surgery. He considered going to ask for information but he knew he would get no where and would end up getting angry. He was also still worried about Vince, he just sat there next to Paul with a shocked expression on his face and didn't say anything unless Paul spoke to him.

Paul turned his attention to trying to figure out whoever had done this but in truth he was at a total loss. His wife didn't have any enemies, she rarely even had disagreements with anyone. Certainly nothing had happened that would make someone angry enough to do this to her, she would have told him about it if something that bad had happened. He was certain of that, so who could it have been?

Maybe Brie was wrong and this was some nut job or some crazy fan who had caught Stephanie in the wrong place at the wrong time? There was no other explanation as no one had ever hated Stephanie. Then a name flashed into his head, there was one person who hated his wife. His ex girlfriend Joanie definitely hated Stephanie. Paul had been engaged to Joanie but had cheated on her with Stephanie and then left her to be with Stephanie. She had the motive but could Paul imagine Jo doing this? No, he couldn't, but he'd have to mention it to the cops. If it wasn't her then...

His train of thought was interrupted as he saw the doctor he had spoken to earlier walk through the double doors into the waiting area. He saw her locate him and begin heading in his direction. "Here's Steph's doctor, Vince." He realised he had forgotten the doctor's name, not that it mattered right now. What she was about to say was all that mattered. "Please be good news," he pleaded quietly to himself. He tried to read the expression on the doctor's face as she approached but he wasn't successful. As she got near enough to talk to Paul stood. "Please tell me she's alive?"

The doctor smiled but it was only a thin one, clearly there was bad news of some kind but she said, "Yes sir, your wife is alive."

The wave of relief that hit Paul was like nothing he had felt before in his life. "Thank you doctor..."

As she continued Paul realised he was supposed to be listening not talking, "Sir, I have to tell you that your wife's condition, whilst no longer life threatening, is critical. She has sustained two blows to the head, one probably only serious enough to knock her unconscious for a few minutes and leave her with a concussion but the second injury is much more serious."

"How serious?" Paul asked, terrified of what he might hear next.

"Doctor Turner found some haemorrhaging in your wife's brain. She managed to stop the bleeding and remove the clots but due to the area where the damage was sustained it's impossible to say for certain how fully your wife will be able to recover."

Paul felt like he was going to be sick. "What are you telling me?"

"We do anticipate that your wife will make a recovery but you need to know that the area of the brain that was damaged could mean that your wife may have memory loss to some extent when she awakes."

Paul was horrified, he'd seen things like this on TV. "Are you telling me that Stephanie isn't going to remember who I am? That she's not going to remember our kids?"

"No sir, I can't tell you anything for sure. I'm not even saying that she will have any memory loss for sure, there's no way to tell until she regains consciousness. I've seen people make full recoveries from injuries worse than this but you should also know that people can fail to recover from injuries less severe than this."

Paul felt his head spinning. "So you're basically saying I've got to wait and see what's left of my wife?"

"That's not how I would have put it sir, but essentially you are correct."

Feeling tears fill his eyes Paul asked, "When will she wake up?"

"Your wife is in post-op now and then she'll be moved to the ICU. She's sedated and will need to remain so for at least forty eight hours as the swelling on her brain needs to reduce before we can allow her to regain consciousness."

"Oh my God," Paul mumbled. "When can I see her?"

"I'll come and find you when she's been moved to the ICU and you can see her then."

Unable to deal with the barrage of emotions that was assaulting him Paul managed to say, "Thank you doctor."

"Uh... sir? I'm afraid there's something else I need to tell you."

"What?" Paul groaned. "What else could there possibly be?"

"Sir... it appears that your wife may have been sexually assaulted."

Paul felt himself begin to shake with anger and he jumped up and yelled, "What the hell do you mean 'may have been?' Did someone rape my wife or not? Tell me!"

"I'll need to examine her when she has been taken to the ICU to get confirmation but you should be aware that she arrived with her dress torn away and her underwear missing, and there are lesions on the insides of her legs."

Paul found himself consumed with rage and even worse than that he had no one to direct it at. As suddenly as the rage had hit him it was replaced by grief. He began to cry as he sank back into his seat. "Steph. Oh my God. Why?"

"I'm very sorry sir," the doctor said awkwardly. "I'll come and find you when you can see your wife."

Vince had been silent the whole time. All he could say as the doctor walked away was, "My baby girl."


	6. Chapter 6

"Gentlemen?"

Paul turned his head in the direction of the voice and saw Stephanie's doctor approaching him again, "Hello doctor uh..."

"Clarke," she clarified. "I'm going to be assigned to your wife until she's well enough to leave us, so we're going to see a lot of each other over the coming weeks. You can have a nurse send for me at any time and I'll come as soon as I can."

Weeks? Paul thought, Steph is going to be in here for weeks? Oh God. "I'm Paul and this is Vince, Stephanie's dad."

The doctor gave a small smile and Vince nodded slightly as Paul noticed again that what stood out about this woman was her brilliant blue eyes which always looked so full of compassion. He wondered how people could do a job that meant dealing with things like this every day. She interrupted his wandering mind by saying, "If you'd like to follow me you can see Stephanie now." Paul and Vince rose and followed the doctor across the waiting room towards a set of double doors as she continued, "As I said earlier she is sedated and will need to remain so for at least forty eight hours, so we're looking at a best case scenario of waking her Wednesday night, but I must stress that that is a best case. It depends on how the swelling in her brain reduces between now and then."

As they walked through the double doors they entered a long, silent hallway with doors evenly spaced along either side and once again that strong hospital smell hit Paul he asked, "But it will reduce and she will wake up, right?"

"Yes, she will wake when we reduce the sedation but you need to be aware that when she does she will be in a lot of pain despite what we are giving her and she will almost certainly be very scared and confused, so when the time comes to reduce the sedation I'll need a family member with her at all times."

"I'll be there doctor," Paul assured her. "Don't worry about that."

The doctor stopped outside a door and Paul realised that Stephanie was behind it as her name was on the little whiteboard beside the door. He couldn't see her yet as the blinds on the inside of the window next to the door were closed. All he wanted to do was see her and talk to her. He realised the doctor was half way through a sentence that he hadn't listened to so he said, "Sorry, what?"

"I said when you go in you will see that Stephanie has a lot of bandaging on her head and she's connected to a few machines and lines. Don't worry as most of it is precautionary and we can remove some of the machines soon. She's breathing unaided which is very good."

Breathing unaided is considered good? Paul thought. My God, how bad is she?"

The doctor opened the door and Paul rushed in behind her. "Can she hear me if I talk to her?"

"I don't know but I'd like to think so," Doctor Clarke smiled. "Talking to her can't do any harm."

Paul sat down next to Stephanie in the cheap plastic chair that had been placed ready for him and took her hand. It felt warm, just like it usually did. He leaned over and kissed her on the cheek. Apart from the bandaging around her head she just looked like she was asleep. Paul felt a lump in his throat again. "Steph I'm here. I love you so much and you're going to be okay. Your dad's here too."

Vince leaned over and kissed Stephanie too. "I love you princess. Mom and Shane are on the way."

"Did you check on her for uh..." Paul voice trailed off. He couldn't bring himself to ask the doctor the question that he wanted to ask and he also found himself unable to look away from Stephanie.

The reply he heard confirmed that the doctor understood perfectly well what he was trying to ask. "Yes I did and I'm happy to say that there was no evidence of penetration and no bodily fluids."

Paul squeezed Stephanie's hand tightly as relief hit him, "She wasn't raped?"

"No Paul she wasn't. It's not my place to comment really but I'd guess that he got scared away by someone, luckily."

Seeing for himself that his daughter was alive seemed to have switched Vince back on. "They're going to catch the bastard Steph," he assured her. "Don't worry, he won't get away with doing this to you."

* * *

If he could have heard a conversation that was happening elsewhere he might have had a different opinion. The two police officers assigned to the case sat watching the only piece of CCTV footage that they had that showed anything of the outside of the arena. It was from the camera covering the exit doors into the parking lot and it showed Stephanie walking purposefully as she left the building. Officer Williams rewound the footage and watched it over again. "Come on Stephanie, where are you going?" She asked the screen.

"To get her brains bashed in," her partner chirped. "The question isn't where she's going it's who she's going out there to meet with."

"She looks pissed off to me, someone made her angry."

He laughed, "Not as angry as she made him. Definitely the husband."

Irritated that he somehow found this amusing she said, "I thought you told me not to assume things? You said not to even assume that this was a man?"

"You're right, you actually did learn something then. I already told you though, I like the husband for this."

"Why are we still on this case?" She asked, turning to look at him. "You saw how much money these people are worth, surely we should be throwing more resources into this?"

"Throwing resources into what? What have we actually got? A pool of blood in a parking lot, a phone with only one set of prints on it which are obviously going to be hers and CCTV footage of a woman walking out of a building. Hardly going to interest the FBI is it?"

"Don't forget the last call she received."

He clicked his fingers, "Right, she got a call from a number that she didn't have saved and it's the only call that number has ever made which almost certainly means that whoever was smart enough to do that also destroyed the phone straight away. Also don't forget that the hospital called and said that they had originally suspected rape but there was no fluid found, so you can forget that too."

"So what do we do?" She sighed.

"Tomorrow we talk to the family again. You found out that there's a mother and a brother, so they will most likely be there by then. Other than that if she doesn't know who did this when she wakes up we're done."

* * *

Paul had actually managed to sleep. He and Vince had taken the doctors advice and returned to their hotel. She had pointed out that they would need to be there when Stephanie awoke, not when she was sedated, so they would be best to keep up with their sleep if possible. Paul walked down the hallway towards Stephanie's room feeling a little refreshed. Be positive, he told himself, she's going to wake up tomorrow and she's going to remember me and the girls and she's going to know who the animal is that did this. Then the cops are going to catch him, lock him up and throw away the key.

The sight that greeted him as he walked into Stephanie's room surprised him. "Shane? What are you doing here this early? Where's Linda?"

Shane turned, saw Paul and then got up. He walked over to Paul and they hugged as Shane said, "I just got here. I flew in from L.A, I was on business there. Don't you remember me telling you the other day?" Actually, Paul didn't remember that but Shane had continued, "I got the earliest flight that I could. Mom will be here as soon as she can. Tell me what they've told you, I've not seen a doctor yet."

Paul ran through everything that he'd been told and then they both sat and talked to Stephanie, unsure if it was serving any purpose, but hoping that it was.

* * *

"Right, they're all in there. You talk to the brother and I'll talk to the mother. I want another crack at the husband too," Officer Henry said to his partner as he looked through the window into Stephanie's room.

The two officers walked into the room and introduced themselves to Shane and Linda. They asked them both step out of the room and Officer Williams led Shane further down the hallway so that they could talk privately. "Let's start with something simple. Where were you last night, around the time of your sisters attack?"

Shane bristled at the question but tried to answer calmly, "In my hotel room, in L.A."

"Can anyone confirm that for me sir?" She asked.

"No, I was on business. I spend a lot of nights alone in hotel rooms on business trips."

Williams raised an eyebrow, "You flew in here this morning?"

"Yes I did. I'm sure you can check that with the airline."

"We'll do that sir. Your number was the second to last to call Stephanie last night, can you tell me what you talked about?"

Shane started to lose his cool, "It's a crime to call my sister now? Are you trying to make out that I did this? Who do you..."

"Sir, calm down please. Everyone in your family will be asked the same questions. Tell me what you talked about?"

Shane tried to control himself, "Nothing really, just general chat. We hadn't talked for a few days but Steph was busy at the arena so we didn't talk for long."

"Stephanie didn't mention a disagreement with anyone or any problems at home?"

"No she didn't," Shane growled. "And what do you mean problems at home? You think Paul may have done this?"

"I don't think anything sir, I'm asking you questions is all. So, you have no idea who would want to attack your sister?"

"Of course not," Shane insisted. "Steph doesn't have enemies, everyone loves her."

"Thank you sir, you can go back to your family now."

Officer Williams saw that her partner had also finished with Linda, and was now talking to Paul instead. She waited a while for him to finish and eventually he walked over to join her. "I told you the husband," he announced smugly.

"What do you mean?"

"Conveniently he was 'looking for his wife' when she was attacked and he was doing it alone. There's also an ex girlfriend we need to have questioned but I'm telling you it was this guy."

Officer Williams had been putting together a theory of her own and she asked, "How long does it take to drive from here to L.A?"

"What?" He looked at her quizzically.

"You heard. How long?"

He thought about it for a moment, "Five, six hours maybe. Why?"

"Interesting," was all he got in reply.

* * *

Stephanie's attacker was aware of her condition but then so was anyone else who cared to find out as Vince had pulled himself together enough to have a message put on WWE's website and consequently the story was now on the TV news channels too.

_Her condition isn't life threatening, she's going to wake up! God damn it! She's going to remember what happened! All you had to do was listen to my side of the story you stupid, stupid bitch!_


	7. Chapter 7

"Is there any danger of you telling me what you're thinking?" Officer Henry asked his young partner. They were driving back to the station and his partner hadn't said anything at all to him since they had left the hospital.

Officer Williams said nothing for another few moments but then eventually she nodded, "Okay, right, forget your obsession with this being the husband for a moment and picture this. Let's say that Stephanie's brother has some reason to want her dead. He knows where she will be on Monday night so he flies somewhere not too close but also not too far away, like L.A. To avoid showing up on any airline records he drives all the way to the arena, you said what, five hours from L.A to here?"

"Yeah, I'd guess five or six hours," Henry said, considering what she was saying.

"So, he drives over here and calls her and tells her what time to meet him in the parking lot. He buys a cheap cell phone from somewhere and then when he gets to the parking lot he uses it to call her so that his number isn't the last call that she received. She walks out there to talk to him or confront him or whatever and he comes from behind and hits her. He steals her underwear to make it look like a sex attack. Who would suspect the brother in an apparent sex attack? Then he clears out before anyone can see him. Either by luck or design he does all of this out of sight of the CCTV in the parking lot. I can't believe they only have one camera out there, nearly half of the parking lot not even covered by it."

Henry nodded slowly, "It's possible I suppose. He could have driven back to L.A that night and then flown back over here the next day, but we have nothing to prove any of it. We don't even have any idea why he might want to kill his sister."

"I know," Williams sighed. "It's so frustrating. He admitted that no one could verify that he was in the hotel but that still proves nothing. Hopefully she makes it easy on us and remembers what was happening that night and who did this to her."

"If not I don't think we're going to make anyone for this. There's no evidence, no video footage and no witnesses. We're fucked. We'll keep questioning the husband and the brother and we'll have someone talk to the ex girlfriend but unless we luck out this is dead in the water."

* * *

Pain, Stephanie thought as she began to regain consciousness. Jesus, so much pain. Why does my head hurt so badly? I need to take something for this, this is unbearable. First I need to open my eyes. I'm not sure that I can even do that, it hurts so much.

She opened one eye slightly and immediately closed it again. My God, that hurt, she thought. Why is it so bright in here? Our bedroom doesn't get this bright. Maybe I have a migraine? I need to try again.

She managed to force herself to open both eyes briefly but she had to close them again against the pain. Where is this place? She thought, beginning to panic. This isn't our house. Where am I and why am I in so much pain? Instinctively she attempted to move her hand to her head but it didn't move.

She had no idea why but someone else did. Her hand didn't move because Paul was holding it. He felt her try to move it and stopped reading the internet browser on his phone that he held in his other hand and his head snapped round to focus on her. Her eyes were still closed but he asked, "Steph? Can you hear me honey?" He'd been told that she would wake today at some point and had refused to leave her bedside when everyone else had gone to get lunch. He saw her eyes open briefly but then they closed again. "I'm here sweetheart, can you open your eyes for me?"

Forcing her eyes open again, Stephanie squinted at him. He dreaded to hear what she was about to say as he faced the possibility of her not knowing who he was but she croaked, "Paul?"

He was overcome with relief. Stephanie recognised him, she remembered him. He felt a lump forming in his throat. "Yes Steph it's me," he managed to say. "You're in hospital honey, you got a bang on the head but you're going to be okay. Oh God, I love you so much."

"My head," Stephanie mumbled as she closed her eyes again.

"I'll get the doctor," Paul said. "I'll be right back." With that he charged out of the room and saw a nurse walking in his direction along the hallway. "Hey," he yelled, "She's waking up. Get Doctor Clarke in here now."

He hurried back into the room and sat back down next to Stephanie as she mumbled, "Where am I?"

The question worried Paul as he had already told Stephanie where she was. "You're in hospital honey, you got a nasty bang on the head but you're going to be okay. Can you open your eyes for me?"

"No it hurts," Stephanie croaked.

Paul took her hand again. "The doctor will be here in a minute. The girls will be so glad to hear that you're awake."

Actually the girls had no idea what was going on, Paul was testing to make sure that Stephanie remembered them. "Where are they?" She mumbled. "I want to see them."

At least she didn't say something like 'what girls?', Paul thought. Maybe her memory isn't damaged at all? Maybe she knows who did this to her?

He sat there for a few minutes trying to talk to Stephanie but only getting very limited, mumbled responses. Eventually Doctor Clarke walked in. "Can you give me a few minutes Paul?" She asked.

"Yeah I'll go find everyone else," he said. "They've gone to get something to eat." He realised that the doctor wasn't listening to him as she was speaking to Stephanie and shining a light into one of her eyes. He left her to it and hurried towards the cafeteria to find Vince, Shane and Linda.

* * *

"I'm sorry I don't remember," Stephanie told the young female police officer for the second time. Being asked these questions was confusing and it made the pain in her head worse. She shifted on the bed, it wasn't comfortable to lie on. At least with the top part raised she was able to see around the room. She looked at all of the flowers and cards that were accumulating around it. I need to read all of these, she thought. Something else to think about. I can't think about...

She was distracted as Paul spoke to the police officer irritably, "She's not ready for this."

Officer Williams began, "The doctor says that it's okay to..."

"Well I say that it isn't," Paul growled.

Stephanie squeezed his hand, "They're going their job Paul, calm down."

Understandably Paul didn't calm down but he did shut up. It was torture for him to see Stephanie confused and in obvious pain despite the medication that she was being given. He heard another question fired at her by the young police woman, "So you remember nothing that happened during the attack and you don't remember walking out there. What about the phone call you received just before you went out there?"

Stephanie tried to think for a long moment but there was nothing apart from pain. There was nothing about Monday night at all. "I can't..." She shrugged in frustration.

"Try really hard for me," Williams urged.

Paul jumped up and yelled, "She's trying damn it! Just get out!"

"Please calm down sir, I'm sorry. It's just that if you can't remember anything Stephanie we don't have much to go on to catch whoever did this."

Stephanie fought the confusion and the pain, "He's going to get away with this?"

"We don't know that this was a man Stephanie. We have no witnesses and there was nothing on the CCTV so unfortunately without something from you we're struggling. We have a few suspects but..."

"Yeah me for a start," Paul raged. "You've got some nerve..."

Stephanie managed to raise her voice a little, "Get out. Everyone get out. I can't deal with this."

Officer Henry spoke for the first time from his position standing against the wall at the back of the room, "Call us if you do remember anything." As the two officers left the room and headed along the hallway he took pleasure in chirping at his partner, "Nice job in there."

"Shut up," Williams huffed. "She didn't remember anything, so we're screwed."

"I noticed that the husband made a point of denying that it was him when it wasn't necessary to do so."

Williams disagreed, "If this was anyone we've spoken to it's the brother."

"We'll have to wait and see what happens with the ex girlfriend."

* * *

Stephanie's attacker had realised something.

_Wait, she didn't tell Paul. She had two days and she didn't tell him. The shit would have hit the fan by now if she had. _

_My plan was actually really stupid, if she had told Paul how would I have gotten away with it? It would have been obvious that it was me. Why didn't I think of this sooner? Even if she remembers what she saw..._

_If I get away with this it will be a miracle. Even then I'll still have to kill her before she remembers, and how the hell will I do that and get away with it? Paul will be watching her like a hawk now. Shit!_

_All you had to do was listen Steph, but no, not little miss perfect. Bitch._


	8. Chapter 8

_A week has gone by and I've still not been arrested. I'm so lucky that she didn't remember anything. It's bad news for you though Stephanie, because I can't take any risks with you remembering what you saw. The first chance I get you're dead. But how am I going to get a chance and when? Not until she's out of the hospital, obviously. Just don't remember anything until then Stephanie, please._

* * *

Stephanie woke up slowly with the usual headache. Day by day they were getting less painful but the doctor had said that they would continue for some time even after she was sent home. She tried to focus on the person at her bedside. She saw that it wasn't Paul, it was Shane. He was looking at Stephanie and saw her eyes opening. "Hi Steph, I have good news. Paul finally agreed that the girls can come down and see you. Marissa is on a flight with them now."

As he spoke something stirred in Stephanie's memory between the pain and the tiredness but she couldn't figure out what it was. Something about Shane? Why did Shane speaking to her make her feel strange like that? She didn't know. It was the first time that she had thought that she might remember something about that Monday night and it was something to do with Shane. Oh God, she panicked, what if it was Shane who did this to me. I need Paul!

"Where's Paul?" She asked sleepily.

"Bathroom break, he's been in here all morning waiting for you to wake up."

Stephanie felt terrified as she thought, If Shane did this I'm now stuck in here alone with him and I'm too out of it on this morphine or whatever it is to do anything. What if he does something to me now? Oh God, I need someone else in here. Please don't tell me my brother wants to kill me.

"Where's dad?" She asked next.

"I'm not sure. I think he's making a call or something. Are you okay? You've gone pale." Shane leaned over to place a hand on Stephanie's forehead to see if she was too warm and was surprised as she tried to recoil away from him. "Steph? What's wrong with you?"

Paul chose this moment to walk back into the room and saw Shane leaning over Stephanie and heard her saying, "Don't touch me!" as loudly as she could manage in her weakened state.

Paul was on Shane in an instant, dragging him away from the bed and yelling, "What the fuck are you doing to her?"

"Nothing!" Shane yelled back. "She was acting strange so I leaned over to try and check if she was too hot or something and she freaked out!"

Paul nearly threw his brother in law out of the room as he yelled back, "Get out of here! If she's about to tell me that you did something to her I'm going to kill you myself!"

"I didn't do anything to her," Shane insisted from outside the doorway. "She's my sister for God's sake"

By the time Shane finished his sentence Paul was already sitting by Stephanie's side and holding her hand, "Steph did you remember something?"

"No, I don't know," she mumbled. "Something about Shane maybe."

Paul's face began to turn red with anger, "Did he do this to you?"

"I don't remember. I just, something strange happened when he spoke to me before but... I don't know."

"We know that Shane called you not long before you were attacked. Was that what you remembered?"

"I don't know Paul, it's gone," Stephanie said sadly, closing her eyes.

"I'll be right back baby." Paul got up and left the room. He found Shane sitting on a plastic chair further along the hallway with his head in his hands. Paul walked up to him and hauled him to his feet, "The cops think that this was you. They keep coming in here questioning you and now this. Give me a reason not to..."

Shane raised his hands defensively and did not attempt to fight his brother in law off. "This fucking wasn't me! They cops keep questioning you too and I don't throw threats at you!"

"Steph doesn't freak out when she sees me though does she?" Paul growled.

"You think I know how to answer that? I don't."

"You don't go into that room again unless I'm in there," Paul insisted. "If she remembers that this was you..."

"It wasn't me Paul."

Paul stormed away and went back to be with his wife.

* * *

"Girls, you can go in but you've got to be quiet, okay? No screaming and shouting and no jumping on mommy because you might hurt her." The three girls all agreed and Paul and Marissa followed them into Stephanie's room.

Linda and Vince stood and left the bedside and Vince said, "We'll leave you to it for a while. We don't want to all crowd her."

Paul nodded and watched as Stephanie kissed Aurora, their oldest child and Murphy who was next in line but their youngest daughter Vaughn couldn't reach as she was too small. Stephanie asked Paul to lift her onto the bed and as he did so he said, "Sit still next to mommy and be a good girl, okay?" He put Vaughn down next to Stephanie and noticed that his wife was already crying as she kissed Vaughn and began to chat to the girls.

Marissa sat down next to Stephanie on the other side of the bed and waited for a gap in the girls chatter to say, "Hi Steph."

"Marissa, thank you so much for bringing the girls down here..."

Paul added, "And for having them all week. I don't know what we would have done without you."

"You're welcome, of course," Marissa smiled. "My God Steph look at you... And this is after a week, you're lucky to be..." She realised that wasn't a sensible thing to say with the girls there. She looked at Paul and he motioned with his head for her to join him outside of the room. They left Stephanie with the girls and walked outside. "She still looks awful Paul. What kind of bastard could do this to her? I mean Stephanie of all people, just why?"

Paul resisted mentioning what had happened earlier with Shane and said, "I think her memory is coming back. She nearly remembered something earlier but it went away again. Me and Linda and Vince have been trying to help her remember again all day but it's no good."

"Well, that's good at least, that something started to come back I mean. It's a shame we don't have the death penalty for things like this."

"If I get my hands on whoever this was before the cops do it _will_ be the death penalty," Paul insisted, the coldness in his eyes confirming that he meant exactly what he said.

* * *

"Thanks for the call," Officer Henry said and with that he put the phone down and turned to his partner. "Scratch one off of the list. It wasn't the ex girlfriend. She was out with four other people that Monday night and they've all verified it. It's the husband."

"Brother, definitely," Williams countered. "But we're out of options unless Stephanie remembers something."

* * *

_I'm fucked. I'm way beyond fucked. It's coming any day now. Just get her out of this place and give me one chance. One chance is all I need. I've got to kill her even if there's a risk of getting caught. Attempted homicide or homicide, what's the difference? At least if I kill her I might, just might, get away with all of this._


	9. Chapter 9

"I just don't understand it," Paul said to Vince. Over a week had gone by and although Stephanie was improving very quickly now, remarkably so in fact, and her medication had been reduced there was still no progress with her memory of that Monday night. "It's only that one morning when Shane was in there that anything happened. What was it about that morning? Even when we had him sit in there when she woke up again nothing happened. I don't get it."

Vince pushed his lunch around his plate without eating any of it. The crap that they served in this hospital was getting old fast. "I don't know, but I don't believe that Shane did this. They are my kids and they love each other. I don't doubt that, not for a fucking second. I don't like leaving Steph without anyone in her room either."

Shane, Linda, Marissa and the girls had returned home. Stephanie was now well enough to make and receive calls and the police had returned her phone so they could all easily stay in contact with her. Life had to go on, the girls had school and everyone else had business to deal with so Stephanie had insisted that they leave now that it was clear that she would recover. She hadn't asked Paul to leave for obvious reasons and Vince had refused point blank to do so himself.

"She'll be fine Vince," Paul said. "Hopefully they'll let her home soon. Who knows, maybe getting out of here and back to her familiar surroundings will help her to remember somehow?"

"I hope so. Whoever this was is still out there. I don't believe for a second that this was a random attack, so they may try and get to her again."

"That's not going to happen," Paul assured him. "They'll have to kill me before they can hurt Steph."

* * *

"So this is it," Doctor Clarke said with a huge smile.

"Yes, I'm out of here at last," Stephanie smiled back. "Thank you so much for everything."

They shared a brief hug as the doctor said, "Don't thank me, you made this remarkable recovery yourself. It's only been just over four weeks, that's very good for your type of injury. It could easily have been twice that long"

Paul and Vince picked up the bags containing Stephanie's things as she said, "I still get headaches, I have one now."

"That's going to continue for some time, just don't push yourself too hard. You'll need to visit your doctor regularly for tests and they will keep you on the best medication."

"I'm still missing a few days leading up to the attack," Stephanie said sadly.

"There are specialists who can try to help you recover your memory," Clarke advised. "It's all in there somewhere, I really believe that. You remember everything else about your life so I'm sure that your brain isn't damaged, it's just having a hard time finding what you're asking it to search for. You'll get there one day."

Stephanie smiled, "Thank you again. I guess this is goodbye?"

"It is. Goodbye Stephanie."

Paul took his wife's hand and led her down the hallway, through the waiting room and down the stairs. As they walked outside Stephanie took a deep breath. She had been outside a few times during her recovery for a short walk and some fresh air but now she was finally free of this place. "Let's go home," she said happily.

"You've done so well princess," Vince said. "We'll get everyone together at the weekend, if you're well enough."

"That would be nice."

They all got into the car that Vince had waiting and it drove away. Stephanie's stay in the hospital was over.

* * *

_Okay, so she's home and she still hasn't remembered. Now they're talking about sending her to a memory specialist? Give me a break! How can I get at her to kill her? I can't do it in her house obviously and Paul will be with her all of the time, I just know it. This is torture, how am I supposed to live like this? Knowing that she could remember at any moment and I'll lose everything and go to jail. Just one chance Stephanie, come on, give me one chance!_

* * *

Another two weeks went by and Stephanie's health improved to the point where she felt well enough to begin visiting a memory specialist. Fortunately there was one with an office that was only a twenty minute car journey away from home. Paul had insisted that he would drive her there himself and then come all the way from the office to pick her up and take her back home when she was done. After a few sessions however, there was still no joy in recalling what had happened that Monday night.

When the attacker's opportunity came it was Stephanie herself who presented it by doing something that she had specifically been told not to do. Paul had driven her to her session with the memory specialist as usual and told her to call him when she was done and he would come right over from the office to collect her. Stephanie knew that Paul was way behind at work and she knew that someone else she trusted was free that day so she made a call.

_"Hi Steph, how are you?"_

"I'm good thanks, you?"

_"Great."_

"I was wondering if you could do something for me?"

_"Sure, name it?"_

"I just finished my session with the memory specialist..."

_"Any joy?"_

"No, it's so frustrating. I was wondering if you could give me a ride home? I don't want to keep dragging Paul away from work."

_"Sure, no problem. Where are you?"_

Stephanie provided the address and described how to get there.

_"That's not too far away. I'll be there in... fifteen minutes or so I guess."_

"Thanks so much. I'll see you soon."

The attacker ended the call.

_Oh god! This is it! This is my chance! How can I do it though? The only thing I can think of is to bring her back here and do it outside. No one will be able to see what's happening on our driveway. I can't do it inside the house, obviously. I'll go with the original plan that I fucked up last time, knock her out and then strangle her. This is going to mean that after I've killed her I'll have to wrap her in a blanket or something and take her somewhere in the trunk of my car and dump her. It's not a great plan but if I make sure I don't get any of her blood or hair in the car I could get away with it, right? I'll clean the trunk a bunch of times when I get back to make sure there's no trace of her. I'll need to take her phone too and get rid of it. They'll see my number in it if they find it. Even if they did I guess there's nothing strange about her calling my number. Okay, let's do this. It's a poor plan but so was the first one and I got away with that. I might be in the clear after today! Thank God!_

* * *

Stephanie sat in the waiting area without realising the danger that she had just put herself in. I can't rely on Paul for everything, she thought, the poor guy is spending his whole life running around after me. It's not fair. She killed time by reading a magazine which wasn't interesting in the least and eventually her phone rang. "Hi," she answered pleasantly.

_"Hi Steph, I'm in the parking lot."_

Stephanie's memory finally triggered. She had heard that exact sentence before from the same person. Her mouth dropped open in shock and her eyes instantly filled with tears. Telling herself to try to sound normal she said, "I've uh... got to wait for some forms to sign. I'll be out as soon as I can, sorry."

_"No problem, I'll be waiting."_

Stephanie's head spun and her heart began to pound as the horror of her realisation took hold of her. Her hands shook as she made another call. "Hi honey," Paul answered. "Are you done?"

Her voice broke as she revealed, "Paul, I know who attacked me and I need you to get here fast."


	10. Chapter 10

Paul was stunned when Stephanie told him who had attacked her. What if Steph's memory isn't enough to get a conviction? He thought. What if it's considered unreliable or something? Damn it, I should have asked the cops about it! What can we do to make sure? He came up with a plan and voiced his concern to Stephanie and told her what he wanted her to do.

"You want me to go out there and get in the car?" Stephanie asked incredulously.

"When I let you know that I'm outside, like I said. Do what I said and you'll be fine. I'll handle the rest."

"I'm putting my life in your hands Paul," Stephanie said, terrified.

"There's no place safer for it to be honey, plus we have the advantage that we are the only ones who know that you've remembered something. Try to act calm and I'll be there soon."

* * *

Stephanie received a text from Paul to say that he was in the parking lot. He included the description of the car he had borrowed from someone in the office. He didn't want to follow the attacker in his own car in case it was recognised. Still not convinced that this was a good idea but accepting that Paul was right, they were the only two people who knew that she had remembered, Stephanie left the building. As the cold air hit her she felt sick at the thought that if her memory hadn't triggered when it had she may have already been dead by now as she would not have waited in the building. She noticed Paul waiting in the car he had described. He wasn't actually in the parking lot but parked in the street just outside of it. Stephanie approached the attacker's car and reminded herself to act normally. Whatever happened she couldn't let on that she knew. She opened the door and got in. "Hey, sorry about that. That place is so disorganised."

_"No problem, I'm in no rush."_

The car pulled away and left the parking lot and Paul tucked himself in a couple of cars back. Stephanie noted the leather gloves that the attacker was wearing. No fingerprints huh? She thought. What, you've got something to hit me with again have you? Well I'm ready for you this time if you try it. If one of us gets beaten to death today I'll be damned if it's going to be me!

"Can you drop me straight off at home please?" She asked. "My head hurts again."

_"I thought we could go to my place? I'm not working today and you're obviously not, we could make an afternoon of it?"_

"Sure, why not?" Stephanie agreed. No other response seemed possible. She waited a minute before taking out her phone so as not to make what she was doing too obvious and sent a text to Paul. He would do the rest. Stephanie saw her attacker take a glance at what she was doing but she had already made sure that the screen wasn't visible. The attacker didn't ask any questions. Don't want to raise any suspicion huh? Stephanie thought. Well you're too late for that.

_"So, this memory expert, what's the deal? Are you making any progress?"_

Yeah you would want to know that wouldn't you? Stephanie thought as she said, "No. To be honest I'm starting to think that it's a waste of money."

_"That's really a shame. One day you'll remember and they'll be able to put the bastard who attacked you away."_

"I hope so," Stephanie said. "I want that so badly."

Paul was understandably nervous. What if Stephanie gets attacked in the car? He thought. Why would she though? She's smart enough not to let on that we know.

As they travelled Stephanie noticed how casually her attacker made conversation. If my memory had not triggered on that phone call there is no way that I would have suspected a thing, she thought. I would have been on may way to be killed right now. Actually, I would likely already be dead.

Ten minutes later Stephanie tried to stop her hands from shaking and she felt sick again as the car approached the attackers house. This would have been it, she thought. I would have died here today. Hell, I still might if I don't stay sharp. The car pulled into the long driveway and the attacker parked as far away from the street as possible. We're out of sight of anyone back here, Stephanie thought. This is it, as soon as I get out of the car I have to be ready. Don't let me down Paul.

_Okay, she's getting out, do it now! "I just need to get something from the trunk."_

The attacker walked to the back of the car and opened the trunk and removed a crowbar.

_Make this easy Stephanie, be facing away from me when I walk around the car, please!_

The attacker raised the crowbar and stepped around the side of the car but Stephanie wasn't there. Instead a male voice shouted from behind, "Drop it! Drop it and turn around! Now!"

_Fuck! She fucking knew it was me! Oh God, my life is over! Fucking bitch!_

The attacker dropped the crowbar and turned around and saw two police officers with their guns drawn, "On the floor! Hands behind your head!"

The attacker did as ordered, what choice was there? Stephanie walked around the other side of the car with tears pouring down her cheeks, "How could you? How could you Marissa?"


	11. Chapter 11

_**EPILOGUE**_

It took some more work with the memory specialist but eventually Stephanie remembered the reason that Marissa attacked her.

_**Two days before the attack**_

"I've searched the house three times Paul. The girls all insist that they haven't had it. It must be at Marissa and Shane's house. I must have left it there this afternoon," Stephanie said in frustration as she stood in the living room in front of Paul.

"It's a phone Steph," Paul sighed, looking up at her as he sat on the couch. "You can live without it for one night. Go get it tomorrow."

"No, I can't live without it and I don't want to live without it. I don't have time to go over there tomorrow morning to get it anyway. Also I just told you that I've been calling my phone, Marissa's phone and their house phone and she's not answering. You know Shane is away, I'm worried that something may have happened to Marissa or one of the boys. I'm going over there."

"It's past eight at night, maybe she went to bed early or something?"

"I have a key," Stephanie pointed out. "I can let myself in, find my phone, and come straight out if that's the case."

"Fine," Paul agreed. "But please don't be long."

* * *

Stephanie parked her car on Marissa's driveway and thought, Strange, there are lights on so she's not in bed. Why didn't she answer my calls?

She got out of the car and walked up to the front door of the house. She pressed the button next to the door and heard the doorbell ring inside. She waited a minute for a response but nothing happened. Stephanie used her key to open the door and entered the house. "Marissa?" She called out. "It's me, are you okay?" There was no response so Stephanie walked into the living room. She decided to find her phone and then check on Marissa and the boys.

She checked the couch that she had been sitting on earlier that day and quickly found that her phone had fallen between the cushions. "Marissa?" She called out again.

There was still no response so she headed upstairs and tried again, "Marissa, are you home?"

She heard Marissa's voice from behind the closed bedroom door, "I have a migraine Steph but I'm okay. Just go please."

But Stephanie didn't go, she opened the bedroom door, "You poor thing, can I get..."

Marissa was in bed with some guy that Stephanie had never seen before. Stephanie froze for a second. "Oh God Marissa, what the hell?"

"Steph..."

Marissa had begun to attempt to defend herself but Stephanie growled angrily, "Actually I don't want to hear this," she turned and walked out of the room and headed down the stairs.

Marissa ran out of the bedroom and followed her down the stairs shouting, "Steph, wait!"

Stephanie was about to leave the house but she turned around, "Put some clothes on Marissa for God's sake."

"Don't tell Shane, please!" Marissa pleaded.

"Don't tell Shane?" Stephanie asked incredulously, eyes widening. "Are you serious right now?" She thought for a second. "Shane's away till Tuesday and he doesn't deserve to hear this on the phone. I'll give you until Wednesday to tell him yourself or I will. You disgust me."

"Just listen, please!" Marissa pleaded.

Stephanie stormed out of the house, "No. As I said, tell Shane yourself by Wednesday or I tell him myself."

* * *

_Later that night Marissa lay in bed, now alone, and tried to think._

_Damn it Stephanie! What were you doing here? Was it you that kept calling earlier? What could you possibly have wanted at this time of night? Now she's going to tell Shane and she's going to ruin my marriage, ruin my life! Shane will leave me for sure if he hears about this, I'll lose him and the boys. I'm not going to let that happen, I don't care what I have to do._

_Why am I thinking like that, what am I even thinking? I couldn't do anything to hurt Steph. Or could I? If it means that I don't lose Shane and the boys I could. Fuck Stephanie, she wouldn't even take a minute to listen to me, the bitch! Little miss perfect couldn't possibly try to understand could she? It's not simple though obviously, I can't just kill someone and expect to get away with it. How can I do it and get away with it?_

_She ran many ideas through her head and there was only one thing that made sense; Do it when she's away Monday night, try and make it look like one of the wrestlers did it. I can find out where the show is at, have someone sit for the boys and say that I need to go away on business for the night and fly down there. Maybe call her and get her out into the parking lot or something and bash her fucking brains in. I can fly back that night and show up back home early the next morning as if nothing is out of the ordinary. I need to think through all the details but I have all day tomorrow to do that. This could actually work! I'm sorry Stephanie, but you really shouldn't have seen what you saw tonight. I can't let you ruin my life, you're going to have to die. You stupid bitch._

* * *

**_THE NIGHT OF THE ATTACK_**

_Marissa had parked her rental car nearby and checked out the parking lot of the arena. She was pleasantly surprised to see that a fairly large number of the lights were out and that there only appeared to be one CCTV camera in operation. It would be easy to avoid that. This was a good as she could have possibly hoped for._

_She was no criminal mastermind but she figured that she didn't need to be for this to work. She had charged her flight and the rental car to her business card. She figured that if the investigation got as far as checking into that then she would have already been arrested at it would not matter at that point. She pulled the hood of her black coat over her head with one gloved hand. She carried a crowbar in her other hand which she had bought locally earlier in the day, paying with cash. She walked into the end of the parking lot furthest away from the arena, out of sight of the CCTV. Closer to the arena the lot was full but back here there were several dark, empty places. Marissa crouched and hid between two cars and took out the cheap phone that she had also bought earlier in the day._

_The only thing that can go wrong is if Stephanie doesn't come out here, she thought. It's dark, there's no one around and this place is perfect. Right, let's do it. Get her out here, hit her on the head, tear her dress open, steal her underwear, leave some scratches on the insides of her legs and then strangle her. Making it look like a sex attack is genius! No one will suspect a woman and certainly not me!_

_She took a few deep breaths and called Stephanie's cell phone number which she had saved into the new phone earlier. As it rang Marissa thought, What if the bitch has her phone on silent or what if she's in the ring or something? Come on please answer, you bitch!_

* * *

Stephanie sat in the production office listening to a conversation Paul and Vince were having. She felt her phone vibrating against her leg. She took it out of her pocket and didn't recognise the number on the screen. She stepped out of the office into the hallway where it was quiet and answered the call, "Stephanie McMahon."

_"Hi Steph, I'm in the parking lot. Can we please talk?"_

"Marissa? Didn't the fact that I ignored like, ten calls from you yesterday get through to you? I have nothing to say to you. Wait, what do you mean you're in the parking lot?"

_"I flew down here just to talk to you Steph. Please, just give me five minutes, please?"_

Stephanie recalled the image of her brother's wife in bed with another guy and felt her anger building, "Fine. You want five minutes, I have a few things to say to you too." Stephanie ended the call and stormed along the hallways towards the exit. I'll give you five minutes, she raged silently. Cheating on my brother, disgusting. I'll tell you exactly what I think of you.

The cold hit Stephanie as she stormed out into the parking lot. Jesus Christ, she thought, it wasn't this cold earlier. I'll be glad to get back inside when I've gotten rid of Marissa. Where is she anyway? She walked further away from the arena and called out, "Marissa? Where are you? You wanted me out here, here I am!"

_I'm right here Stephanie, Marissa thought, hidden away in between the two cars. Come closer bitch!_

Stephanie walked further away from the arena, "You flew all the way down here to play games Marissa? Where are you?" She walked past Marissa's hiding place, "This is stupid, I'm out of..."

_Marissa came silently from behind Stephanie and hit her on the back of the head with the crowbar and Stephanie collapsed to the floor. She__ waited a moment to make sure that Stephanie was out cold before dragging her the short distance to the gutter. She set the crowbar aside and then she tore Stephanie's dress open and removed her underwear. She then removed the glove from one hand and made some scratch marks on the insides of Stephanie's legs with her nails. She put the glove back on and she leaned forward to clamp her hands around Stephanie's throat. Then she froze. Stephanie's eyes had just opened and looked right at her. Marissa panicked and grabbed the crowbar and hit Stephanie as hard as she could on the head. Without hesitating she took the crowbar with her and ran._

_As she returned to the car she managed to stop panicking. She removed her coat, noticing that there was blood on it. She placed it in the trunk, making sure the blood didn't come into contact with anything. She put the crowbar on top of the coat and then her gloves. I need to go and throw these into that river I drove over earlier, she thought. I'll drive alongside it and find a quiet place. I'll throw the stupid phone in too. Then get to the airport and get the hell out of here._

_As she drove away she thought, Fuck you Stephanie you stupid, evil bitch. You're not going to ruin my life now are you?_


	12. Chapter 12

_**EPILOGUE CHAPTER TWO**_

"Okay, so you threw the weapon and the other things in the river, then what?"

Marissa stared blankly back at the middle aged police officer. His prematurely greying hair reminded her of her husband a little. Probably ex husband now, she thought, thanks to Stephanie."

"Come on Marissa, just tell us what happened next."

Marissa looked at the other officer who had just spoken and thought, This old bastard has been bombarding me with questions all day. Give me a break would you?

"What do you think happened next?" She eventually replied angrily. "I got the last flight back to New York. I got a couple of hours sleep in the car when I landed and then I drove home first thing in the morning. I sent the sitter home and started to get the kids ready for school when Linda showed up with the girls and told me the 'awful news'. I did a good job of seeming horrified and agreed that the girls could stay with me until Stephanie recovered. I knew then that I was in trouble."

"You looked after those three girls after you had almost killed their mother?" The younger officer asked in disgust. "You tried to kill your husband's sister to avoid telling him that you slept with another guy. You'd watch him suffer the pain of his sister being murdered just to... what?"

"To avoid losing him and my boys," Marissa hissed, as if it made perfect sense. "I told you that already."

"You don't realise how crazy that is? You tried to kill her!"

"Well I didn't invite her into my house that night did I?" Marissa hissed again. "She walks in like she owns the place and then has the nerve to judge me and try to ruin my life. Stupid bitch."

"Right," the older officer laughed. "She's the stupid one. You put this stupid plan together and you're going away for attempted murder. I'd say..."

Marissa cut him off as she spat, "Stupid plan? Please. You assholes had no idea that it was me. You know how many questions you people asked me? None! Not one fucking question. The hours I spent trying to think up perfect answers to every conceivable question and no one even bothered to talk to me." She laughed, "The closest you got to arresting someone for this was my husband for God's sake."

"That didn't worry you? Your husband going inside for what you did?"

"Why would it? I knew that he didn't do it, obviously. I got mad unlucky twice, three times actually, that's the only reason I'm sitting here now. If she hadn't opened her eyes that night for another minute, well, she wouldn't have because I would have strangled her. Then someone goes and finds her just in time before she bleeds to death and then when I finally get another chance at her she fucking goes and remembers that it was me! I have the worst luck in the world."

"You're one crazy woman."

* * *

Shane McMahon finally finished his meeting and walked out of his clients office building and got into his car. He started the engine to get the air conditioning working on heating up the car and then took his phone from his pocket. It had been on silent all afternoon during the meeting. He saw that he had sixteen missed calls and all but three of them were from Stephanie. Oh shit, he instinctively thought, don't tell me something has happened to her? I know crazy shit can happen with blood clots and things... Then he realised that if something had happened to Steph it wouldn't be her that was calling would it? What a dick head So what was she calling so many times for?

He called her number and he could tell something bad had happened when she answered even though she only said one word, "Shane..."

"Steph what is it?" Shane asked with concern. "Are you okay?"

He heard that she was crying now, "Oh God Shane, how can I tell you this?"

"Tell me what?"

"Oh God, it was Marissa."

Shane didn't even come close to understanding. "What was? What's happened now?"

"Shane it was Marissa who attacked me. She tried to do it again today but..."

"What the fuck are you talking about?" Shane cut in.

"She tried to do it again today but I remembered that it was her and Paul got the cops to your place in time."

Shane couldn't respond as his life crashed around him. He could hear Stephanie calling his name into the phone and eventually he managed to ask, "Why?"

"I have no idea. I asked her when the cops were taking her away but she just looked at me. She hates me Shane and I don't know why. What did I ever do?"

Shane was too shocked to cry. "I'm coming home now," he mumbled.

* * *

That night Paul walked out of the bathroom and heard his wife talking. He knew that she had just been reading a bed time story to their youngest daughter. He stood out of sight near the doorway to the bedroom and listened. He heard Stephanie laugh as she was saying, "Okay, we'll read that one again tomorrow. Time to say goodnight."

He heard Vaughn say, "Goodnight mommy."

Stephanie said, "Goodnight sweetheart."

"Goodnight," Vaughn said again.

"Goodnight," Stephanie repeated.

Vaughn laughed, "Goodnight."

Stephanie backed out of the room in front of Paul, "No, mommy says it last. Goodnight."

"Goodnight," Vaughn said quietly and Stephanie pretended not to hear as she closed the door, allowing her baby girl the victory. She turned to Paul and he hugged her, "I love you. I couldn't imagine you not being here with us."

Stephanie returned the hug, "I love you too and I'm not going anywhere."


End file.
